Maternity in Four Parts
by wee-me
Summary: All mothers aren't created equal. Some people have more than one. Sometimes it takes a group to raise a girl. Warning: mentions of child abuse.
1. Biological: Bess

**Maternity in Four Parts**

Authoress: Wee-Me

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own any of the "Beetlejuice" characters. The OC is mine. I'm just playing in the sandbox; I'll put it back like I found it when I'm done.

Biological: Bess

Lydia doesn't talk about her mother.

Ever.

But, when pressed, she'll say the woman is dead. For all she knows it's true. Everyone takes her silence as a sign that's she's broken up over her mother's death, that they were close, that Lydia misses her mommy.

The truth is that Lydia herself packed up all her mother's possessions and handed them over to the strung out man that showed up a week after her mother ran off the last time. In exchange for the useless crap that hadn't yet been hocked she received the signed divorce papers to end her parents' marriage. She was only eleven then, but it wasn't the first of her mother's boyfriends she'd had to deal with and at least this one didn't touch her or fake an interest in being her new step-dad. She got him out the door without incident or having to call the building's doorman for help.

She slipped the divorce papers under the door of her dad's office/study for him to find when he came home and she didn't mention her mother again.

She only ever even thought she saw her mother once more. It was a late school day and she was on the bus coming back from a field trip. They stopped at a red light in a not great part of town and she could have sworn the woman staggering out of the bar blind drunk at 4:00pm was her mother. She didn't try to look any closer, was in fact relieved when the bus pulled away. The only outward break in her calm was a nervous tracing of the trio of perfectly round burns on her left forearm, the permanent reminder of why it's a bad idea to bother mommy while she's drinking.

End Biological

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This one does not fit in with the rest of my stories; I prefer a much happier view of the mother and the life before. Still, I had the urge to do a darker take on things. Please enjoy. (This is part of my 13 Posts of Halloween. Further notes in my bio.)


	2. Step: Delia

**Maternity in Four Parts**

Authoress: Wee-Me

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own any of the "Beetlejuice" characters. The OC is mine. I'm just playing in the sandbox; I'll put it back like I found it when I'm done.

Step: Delia

It was a relief to leave the city behind, her mother's presence made the air rank even if Lydia couldn't be sure she hadn't moved on or died years before. It was as if the place were a tainted well and nothing good could be pulled from its poisoned depths because Bess Deetz had corrupted it merely by existing. For all her complaining Lydia was glad to be in a place her mother had never been and never would be. Bess was even more the crazy artiste than Delia, a performance and spoken word artist, and she would never venture this far from "the scene".

Lydia inherited her flair for the dramatic in her genes right along with the un-tan-able skin and dark eyes, but the girl hoped to avoid the more foolish parts of artistry in favor of the joy of creation and expression. Avoiding the drugs and booze was her first step on that path, you can't get addicted to what you don't have she figured. It threw her for a loop when she thought of all creative people she had seen crash and burn by drowning their visions out with their vices. That's why she had a tentative truce with and respect for Delia. For all her other multitude of faults the woman rarely drank to excess and she's truly passionate about her work.

Her father was no great prize, but he was the only functioning parent she had left and he had a thing for artists. Charles could do wonders with numbers and money, but he wasn't a creative soul and it made him covet the gifts of those that were. The flightier the artist and the less he could understand the art the more drawn in he was; that's how he got Bess and then Delia years later. Between those two Lydia had to run off a cokehead photographer, a bulimic alcoholic novelist, and a sidewalk artist that shot who knew what drugs between her toes (so her arms stayed pretty). Charles hadn't missed any of them when they left and Lydia had been relieved when he found the relatively sane Delia for a permanent fixture.

Delia Mayer had come into her life first as an aloof artist her father was obsessed with that week. None of them expected her to last more than a few weeks, but months went by and her real non-aloof, neurotic personality shone through the mask. For a few long weeks after the wedding she attempted to play super-mom to a disinterested and damaged teen, but that too went by the wayside soon enough. After a while they fell into a pattern, that worked fairly well, of tolerating each other when necessary and ignoring each other the rest of the time. It wasn't a fairytale, but it was what they had.

Only Lydia ever knew that when she said "Delia isn't my mother", it was a good thing.

End Step

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Doesn't this make Delia seem much better in comparison? Please enjoy. (This is part of my 13 Posts of Halloween. Further notes in my bio.)


	3. Adoptive: Barbara

**Maternity in Four Parts**

Authoress: Wee-Me

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own any of the "Beetlejuice" characters. The OC is mine. I'm just playing in the sandbox; I'll put it back like I found it when I'm done.

Adoptive: Barbara

She's baffled by the Maitlands, especially Barbara. The ghost woman does all the things that Lydia knows, intellectually, a mother is supposed to do and she does it without expecting anything in return. It took her months to quit looking for the angle, the payoff, the cloud to attach to this silver lining.

Sometimes she doesn't know what to do. Not with the affection, or the patience, or the kindness. It makes her cry and she can't even explain it to them because she doesn't know how to say that nothing's wrong and "I don't know what to do with your loving me" doesn't really make sense. They're always waiting for her with hugs she doesn't always know how to enjoy when she's only just pulled herself back together at the seams.

In response she tries to live up to a set of expectations that they don't have, but she feels they deserve from her. It's crazy and unrealistic; and it makes them all crazy trying to deal with the fallout when she fails, but she can't wrap her mind around the idea that she doesn't owe them anything. So she tries even harder the next time, even when all she wants is to curl up and cry on Barbara's shoulder. Barbara just keeps coming with the warmth and love, reminding her that they'll care no matter what and they only want her to be happy. Like any good mother would she hopes that someday Lydia will realize how wonderful and worthy of love she is just by being herself.

End Adoptive

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Poor little Lydia, I've really messed her up here. Please enjoy. (This is part of my 13 Posts of Halloween. Further notes in my bio.)


	4. Pseudo: Juno

**Maternity in Four Parts**

Authoress: Wee-Me

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own any of the "Beetlejuice" characters. The OC is mine. I'm just playing in the sandbox; I'll put it back like I found it when I'm done.

Pseudo: Juno

Juno is a comforting presence in Lydia's life. Somewhere in the mad landscape that is her brain Lydia has equated cigarette smoke with home and the social worker brings that back. Her young memories have smoke in every breath and ash on every surface. Even knowing how bad her mother was little Lydia had loved her, even as she'd begun to hate her, and the cigarette smell meant "mommy" and "home". Juno brings those feelings back, but this time without danger or fear. She would never burn Lydia; never leave scars for a reminder, and never make her regret caring about her like Bess did.

She also reminds Lydia that people can care about her in a maternal way without going best- friend- mommy crazy like Delia did early on or reminding her of a '50s sitcom mom like Barbara sometimes does. She appreciates both Delia's absentee mothering and Barbara's devoted mothering, but Juno gives her a much needed and appreciated middle ground. This tempers the extremes of all her other mother figures and gives her room to breathe. The time Juno can spare from her busy schedule is a blessing to Lydia's overworked mind and lets her just relax.

Lydia probably wouldn't ever call Juno a mom-type and Juno would never think it of herself. They'd come closer to agreeing on aunt or friend, but those don't cover all that their relationship entails. In a dozen little ways they show each other that they care and they do it in ways that would probably be considered slightly dysfunctional. Juno leaves the smell of smoke behind when she visits, but never lets the actual smoke reach Lydia's lungs. Lydia in turn bought, and kept up, a silver table lighter set on her desk along with a supply of Juno's favorite cigarette brand. Juno comes to the important events and Lydia collates paperwork while they chat. Lydia is completely comfortable with her non-living state and Juno tells her ghost stories. These, and many other things, show the underlying affection they share. It's a give-and-take that benefits them both and a bond that won't ever be broken.

End Pseudo

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Juno is awesome; you'll never convince me otherwise. Please enjoy. (This is part of my 13 Posts of Halloween.)


End file.
